Ancient sculptures reveal their true colors
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- Опубликовано: 7 авг 2021
- Greek and Roman marble antiquities have traditionally been viewed as white, but recent scientific studies have shown that they were often painted with bright colors - a fact little discussed among art historians. Correspondent Martha Teichner explores how an accidental "whitewashing" of history has colored our view of ancient art.
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This has been widely known for decades. I’m glad that it’s covered in mainstream news, but I fail to see why the journalist was presenting it as some shocking controversial finding that would rock the foundations of western art. Lol
She fail to talk about art history, and the period of light and shadows, presented in form. She presented herself as a bigot.
Because it's presented to appeal supporters of the controversial Critical Race Theory, hence the use of the word "whitewashed"
@@14ariel77 exactly. And it's preposterous
Because its still shocking to many. Most of us can’t afford to go to said art history class.
@@malimillions Yes, but did you for a moment thought that this is a race issue, that it has to do with whitewashing. Lack of color does not equal to what political storm she was trying to whip up. By the way, the reporter was rich enough to have gone to art history class.
"Do museums owe us an apology?" Oh Please...
Martha Teichner showing HER true colors:
Do art historians owe museum goers an apology?
Marco Leona: No, there’s no fakery, no whitewashing.
Tischner: No! Really?
The viewers: Martha, stop trying to make something controversial, that isn’t. Hasn’t your city had enough of that?
I’m incredulous that she’s incredulous.
That exchange was so absurd, as if this was some secret and the museums were hiding the truth.
Indeed. How woke!🙄 Such palpable condescension.
I think museums do owe people apologies mostly for stealing art. And not allowing alot of Persian, Southern Asia, and Africans have their arts for people to view it as well.
And the reply was clear, no whitewashing, no fakery. He clearly mentioned that the shift to white happened in the renaissance because they were inspired by excavated statues whose paint has been worn off.
I'm not sure why we would assume that the ancient Greeks and Romans wouldn't have painted their statues and temples. It's obvious that the white marble statues and buildings discovered much later were bleached due to time, neglect, and mishandling (the cleaning methods mentioned in this video). Ancient people, like us, loved color. Look at any well-preserved ancient artwork, wealthy homes, and holy spaces from anywhere in the world (Egypt, China, Kush, India, Rome, Greece, Aztecs, etc.) and you see color everywhere. If you have the money and the resources, why would you want to look at white, blank spaces and statues? I think it would be fascinating to see this exhibit of the bleached originals next to the painted copies. Hope it comes to my city.
I think it’s because it’s taught that white marble statues were the standard for ancient marbles. It’s been thought since the renaissance, in fact Michelangelo himself, based many of his statues on ancient Roman and Greeks, his perpetuation of white statues lead to the scrubbing away of color to reflect that preferred color scheme.
@Echo Echo
Well the thing is, you have to keep in mind that this was thousands of years ago, so they were limited in their available color pallet. So they didn’t have the colors available to us now. So they worked with the best they had. But I do agree, I do prefer the ethereal beauty of the white statues. But the colored ones really do pop and would’ve been quite a sight in ancient times.
Great story but I hate the way they act like it's all white peoples fault that the color of the stone used was white. I mean if the statues were carved out of Onyx and then painted tan it's not like we would accuse black people today of "Blackwashing" history. About the level of spin I would expect from CBS's "Journalism".
@@luchacefox259
Well that’s a different story all together. I don’t think anyone’s blaming the museum or the ancient romans for displaying statues without context or for using white marble. But there exists a very real racial propaganda behind the whiteness of the statues, they were used by 19th and 20th century racists to propagate the superiority of European culture citing the white marble. What I argue is that the hostess’s questioning were vague, accusatory, and downright incorrect and entirely irrelevant. It’s not like the museum was responsible for this racism and neither should they apologize for anything.
To a certain extent, I agree with you. As a culture we have a very difficult time seeing things differently than how we’ve always perceived them. Ancient sites in Greece, Italy, Spain, Egypt, etc seem to always have been portrayed as being a certain shade, so that’s where our brains automatically go to. However…
I wouldn’t go so far as to say that it’s out of the question to “assume” that sites would be white in places like Greece. Especially since there are modern buildings and structures that are mostly white in Greece. Santorini comes to mind. So I think there’s a part of it that we’ve never challenged our own perception of the way things have “always looked” to us. But there’s also a piece that some of that perception is based on modern situations and choices of architecture.
I’m an art historian who is nearing retirement after teaching in higher ed for 30 years and I have always taught that these sculptures were originally painted. This really isn’t new news, so when the reporter asks, “Do art historians owe the museum-goers an apology?,” I can’t speak for others, but for this art historian the answer is “No.”
In elementary and high schools this subject is not talked about with students. It is a fair question. We are owed an apology.
@@cumshot07055 LOL, ...ridiculous. Should people apologize for the tons of information and knowledge high schoolers still haven't learned about? That's why there are colleges and other schools, to further a person's knowledge.
I am a retired art historian. As you say, I always taught my students that Greek and Roman the statues were painted. One cannot have a discussion about Michelangelo or Bernini or Canova or even the pottery of Wedgwood without seeing (as far as we can) as they saw.
@@cumshot07055 As a current art teacher in high school, I DO teach my students about the original painting of the statues. Do not assume that your experience is universal. I think the assumption of a nefarious motive that demands an apology is beyond ridiculous.
@@cumshot07055 absurd
classicists be like, "yeah, duh."
writ it before i read you, red.
Very interesting. It's good that they found proof that these statues were originally painted in color. But I also think that the white marble statues look marvellous as well.
Luce también hermoso en color, pero prefiero el color natural del mármol, porque lleva toda nuestra atención a las formas y porque con color se parece mucho más a un simple maniquí...
The fact the sculpures are stunning the way they are now speaks of the gifted artists sculpting in realistic detail.
This has been known for donkeys years by me and I am not even a scholar just someone who reads a lot and listens to or watches documentaries etc on anything from quantum physics to history, black holes to art and music.
it's like car, pottery, bicycle, or other products. their "raw" form already good, but with color, it's more good
@@DBT1007 I'll take stained and varnished wood over painted wood most of the time. Heck anything carved out of stone, ivory etc almost always looks better unpainted vs painted. I figure it comes down to some people like bright colors, some don't.
P.S. I just looked around to see if there was anything in my house that was wood that was painted. I found one thing. Pencils.
I was taught this in grad school in 1998, so it had surely been known for decades if not over a century
I saw an exhibition in Munich about 15 years ago about that - some of the statues shown here were thereon display already. Puzzling why this is presented as a new finding.
Indeed even famous archaeologist and art historian joachim winkelman knew about it. He lived mid 1700.
No not really but cool
It might have been known for over a century, but notice how strong the white marble canon is, that none dares change it: the replicas are made of plaster, not the "sacred" white marble.
I think people just have trouble coming to terms with how "tacky" things were historically
Conflating the chalk white of unpainted statues with caucasian skin color in an implied political commentary is supremely silly. Restoring the bright colors of people's clothes and the varying flesh tones of their skin is not some kind of act of social justice. It's a restoration to historical accuracy and a step closer to understanding the cultures that created them.
Thank you!!!!!! I am so tired of everything in society today being cycled through the lens of "race".
Facts
They have been aware of negative reactions from certain individuals towards the original discovery so it should be underlined that such attitudes are inappropriate especially in the current zeitgeist
I feel like they got the base colors right, but as an artist myself I have a hard time imagining that there wasn't some shading and hue variation within those colors. I don't think Caesar would have been white, blue and red.
True, but most of the colour has been scrubbed off or withered away over time leaving only the base colours
that was my first thought too when I saw those extremely pink lips on that basically beige woman. I'm like there is no way that someone who has studied and portrayed musculature to that extent didn't do the slightest bit of blending when painting this thing. They probably also rendered light sources/ambient lighting to make it more flattering for a certain time of day or based on its position in the sun.
Exactly, they would have put the same level of skill and sophistication into the painting and what a sight that would be to see.
I have always thought it would be cool if one room in a museum had the white marble sculptures and another room would have duplicates but painted.
Ooh nice cool idea
or miniature colored replicas standing right beside them.
I'd pay to see that.
Some of them have some color ones next to the blank ones. We can call them that now lol.
It's also the case that the cathedrals in the UK were originally painted on both the insides and outsides. They already dominated the landscape and (without modern highrise buildings getting in the way) were visible from miles away, making them clearly visible to those who lived near them or travelled towards them.
This makes total sense! If you're going to make a statue realistic why wouldn't you paint it!
@ThxGod It'sOver Europe has always been the home of caucasians - even the indigenous peoples of the Near and Middle East are classified caucasoid due to skeletal formation and especially cranial morphology. The statues are caucasoid without question and that identity is only enhanced by recreating their colorations from the microscopic original paint colors.
@ThxGod It'sOver you sound bitter and jealous
@ThxGod It'sOver Out of Africa was a hypothesis, a theory, that was promulgated in the 90s but has since been disproven by the explosion of DNA science, as well as by additional forensic finds in Europe and Australia. Black Africans carry the parental haplogroup of the Aborigine, from whom they descend, which alone disproves your beliefs. Extensive studies in 2010 on the Melanocortin 1 Receptor Gene, a gene responsible,for blue and green eyes as well as lighter skin shades, found it to be at least 250,000 years older than the genes responsible for the sub-Saharan.
And, looking at the incoherent rantings & fantasy in your posts, it’s clear who the demon is.
@ThxGod It'sOver You need serious and immediate psychological and spiritual help, and I will lift a prayer that you get it.
@ThxGod It'sOver I'm sure you see demons every night . Ask your doctor to up your meds .
This isn't news. They've known this for decades. I'm an average citizen and I knew it.
This isn’t new news. I was learning about this in my college art, architecture and design classes 20 years ago. Which means it was known before that. Glad it’s breaking the public realm and not just staying stuck in academia.
Which possible means there is an agenda in the fact CBS decided to report on this old fact with an obvious "white guilt" editorial bias in their reportage. They failed to mention that the Chinese have valued pure white skin (actually whiter than most "white people") for centuries, long before their aesthetic was "sullied" by our "racism".
@@edbenti5007 good in the curator though for squashing the passive-aggressive attempt to pin racism and 'whitewashing' on modern museums and the whole of the Western art world since 1500, acting like no one has ever sculpted the human form in any media except white marble.
@@edbenti5007 mmmm wouldn’t that mean if this is old news there’s been a deliberate agenda to have NOT made this more publicly known to preserve this idea of whiteness = sophistication/high art/classical culture.
Exactly, I encountered this information in college in the late 1970s. If we made European art history, classical studies or world culture classes available to everyone then this wouldn't be a surprise to so many.
@@imParisthoee Well, why don't YOU know about it? Could it be because you never took an interest in art history, classical studies or world history that lead you to read about this sculpture? Never took a class in those topics above the 101 level? If you didn't, why didn't you? Is it because other topics were more important to you, other subjects seemed more likely to result in a well paying job? We can't know all of the details available for us, there is too great a body of knowledge. And we can't expect school systems to force feed people information that does not attract their interest or doesn't seem relevant to what the school board feels every student should and must learn. The school board thinks in terms of preparing youth for the workplace or for college entry. They generally don't focus on the liberal arts.
So the ancient statues should look more like Bob's Big Boy.
Paint is not the same as plastic
Yes, or perhaps the lurid colors of the late 1960s.
🤣
I had something deep and snarky to post about how this story was presented and I deleted it because I realized no one would need to know how I felt…AND THEN I SAW THIS POST…I feel instantly better, thank you!
I get what you mean, the coloured versions seem a bit gauche, but maybe because like they said, we've been raised and trained in the contemporary environment that it's just how our tastes have developed, it might also have to do with modern use of splashy colours which we most commonly see in advertising and our feelings on it. personally i find advertising offensive
The Roman Empire didn’t just stretch from Britain to Asia Minor, but also to North Africa.
Also many medieval castle walls inside could have vibrant colors painted on them.
When your grandmother finds something out new that's been known for awhile. 😆
Here’s a reporting asking and saying some pretty stupid things.
If the reason you are saying “ a reporter asking pretty stupid things” because everyone has known this for decades I agree. Not everyone is informed of the diversity of Europe but, apparently we are. Some of our fellow human beings aren’t as informed as we are. They seem excited to learn some ancient history so you see knowledge is POWER and, ignorance can be overcome. Let’s be respectful of our uninformed community and let them learn what we have the privilege of already knowing. 💝
@@michellejones2416 Okay.
@@fritzteetsel9007 My guy let them learn💝🙏🏽♾
@@michellejones2416 she clearly as an agenda she is trying to push. Noone white washed anything.
Some hard hitting journalism, this is taught first day in any art history class
Glad they’re teaching this these days.
Hindu and Buddhist statues were, and are still painted. Buddhist statues were influenced by Greek art.
I love Hindu and Buddhist sculptures,specially Gandhara,Gupta,Chola and Torma styles.
The Terracotta Army is supposed to be painted too but the color washed out just like these Greek and Roman statues.
They were preserved, but faded way as soon as the air hit them.
Did anyone else think, for like 5 seconds, that the woman interviewing the MET’s chief scientist was Liza Minnelli? No? Just me?
Yeah like a white people hating old bat Liza Minnelli.
I knew that the color was known about for some time now. I also am aware that the Greeks even added eyelashes to their bronze sculptures.
These can be seen in the museum in
Athens! Can't wait to see this show!
I used to do colorings of ancient statues (well photos anyway) to bring back life to them. In fact for the ancient people a white marble statue was boring and plain. A play written by one of the great Greek playwrights (I forget which one) has Helen lament over how much suffering her radiant beauty has caused and she wishes that she could dim her beauty like how a person would remove paint from a statue. For me the colored statues give you a sense of life because they were drawing some influence from people who lived during the period they were created. I really have to get back to doing the colorings on Photoshop.
@@mirandagoldstine8548 sounds pretty cool where can we see some of the work you collaborated in?
@@kanesmith8271 Someday I may post the photos on Tumblr or else make RUclips videos of me applying color to the photos. I haven’t collaborated with anyone. It’s just something I did in my spare time.
Art Historians and anyone reading about classical art has known that Greek and Roman statuary was colourful for many many decades. Even in in the 19th Century artists and art critics knew Winckleman’s idea of the purity of classical Greek statuary was incorrect. The person who ‘owes an apology’ is the presenter, who clearly knows very little.
(Winckelmann)
Anyone with any common sense knew they were at one time painted.
Why?
But as the story points out, artists in the renaissance, including Michelangelo and DaVinci didn’t know this.
@@crabbyoldman1022 Specualtion
"Please don't make this a out race..." My head mid way into this
Europeans created race not the world. America perfected the ill concept. So it’s always gonna be about race when Europeans and Americans are involved.
That’s a fact.
@@blackice112 no they didn't
@@oziu7157 shut up and get smart.
@@blackice112 visit china sometime, visit russia sometime, visit congo sometime, visit australia sometime, visit some place and see the world as it is
@@blackice112 No, Jews did. Race as a concept is Jewish and is older than European. God's chosen people, chosen race, special sperm of Abraham.
I thought that this has been widely known for a long time. Painting them with the microscopically analyzed color is interesting. I'm going to assume it's about 20% correct for color, 2% for chemical composition.
What are you assumptions based on? If the analysis gave them the composition of the pigments, and they take samples from multiple areas of the same statue the colors will be incredibly accurate, as for composition what pray tell would be the purpose of making the exact same binders considering how unstable and weak they proved to be over time? Also many ancient pigment binders were damaging to the pigments, the stone and potentially the people using them. So sure, they aren’t hand grinding vermillion, cinnabar and white lead but the colors analysis would mean very accurate color matching.
@@codename495 As someone who paints, I look at the finished recreations they've done and wonder why they all deep to have flat color - if they were able to extract a particular pinkish color for the skin in some parts then they assume the skin was solidly that color, but it seems strange to me because the artists, when they were made, put so much effort into making their forms realistic, why wouldn't they add more layers of paint to make the paint job on the sculptures more realistic? How do they know multiple layers of paint weren't used for shading etc? It seems if a base layer was put down and then layers of paint on top of that, then the top layers would wash away while the base layer absorbed more into the porous rock so the base layer is all we're left with now to analyze
6:08 good grief the desire to make everyone to apologize. I'm glad the interviewee was having none of that.
I know, we have gone crazy with that concept!
Great story for sure but I to hate the way they act like it's all white peoples fault that the color of the stone used was white. I mean if the statues were carved out of Onyx and then painted tan it's not like we would accuse black people today of "Blackwashing" history. About the level of spin I would expect from CBS's "Journalism".
I thought the same. What an annoying lady
Interesting subject if they showed more of it and stopped saying " diversity" almost every other sentence
It's less about historical art & more about Subtext.
What a ridiculous woman. I've seen first hand sculptural artifacts from the sea and the earth upon being discovered and they are not colored to the naked eye. It is in the interest of some people to make an issue of something when none exists. Most of the peoples living around the Mediterranean Sea, Europe and Asia, who were the creators of these works of art, look alike. Having lived there for years the Tunisians, Egyptians, Syrians, Greeks, Venetians, French and Spanish have intermingled throughout history. Please stop this incessant race baiting.
Agreed! They are acting like it’s a shock that caucasoids created artworks and then painted them to look like themselves. No one looks like walking white marble, good grief.
she a Typical american
@@Kanal7Indonesia she is a typical race baiting woman. Most Americans would never think to connect the natural fade of color to "whitewashing".
I believe it was in good faith. But the point on Septimus Severus was unnecessary, being Rome's only black emperor was sorta what he was known for.
Septimus wasnt black he was sand person
"hey look, an ancient statue with red, blue and green dirt. We have to scrub it clean!"
😂
Omg skimmed through this video and a guy said, ancient Greek statues weren't white but colorful and....wait for it....diverse. That one word puts into question if they're truthful or trying to push a political agenda. How do they even know what colors the statues were, this is so dumb.
That's exactly their motive
Considering that they actually show statues of people who were of diverse backgrounds, a Roman emperor from Libya and his Syrian queen, I think it's fairly justified. Of course considering that you are using norse iconography and have a suspicion of a hidden agenda related to diversity, it's not hard to figure out your political proclivities, IE white supremacist ethno nationalism.
@@yamiyomizuki Greeks were and are Whites, end of discussion slimeball
@@14styrofoampackingpeanuts88 1 not all of the statues depict greeks, 1 being of a Libyan emperor of rome and another his Syrian queen, 2 Greeks reletive whiteness is an interesting question, as recently as the 19th century people in western Europe would have considered Greeks as "oriental" and indeed, while skintone varies by region in each county, Greeks are on average no lighter than Iranians or Turks, who I doubt you would classify as white. I should also point out that being white isn't something that's defined biologically, it's defined socially, geneticists don't even consider it a meaningful classification. The only reason you consider Greeks as white is that you identify as white and consider Greeks to be part of your in group.
@@yamiyomizuki Wrong. Greeks, like all modern Whites, are descendants of the Indo-Europeans, haplogroup R. They speak an Indo-European language and had an Indo-European religion/culture.
It's just been a Looooong time!
Paint fades & marble stays.
A true N.Y.er, can't hold a conversation without mentioning "the pandemic" at some point.
This is old news.
Why didn't they show painted pubic hair??
A rich guy from the ME painted the statues around his home and freaked out the other home owners in Beverly Hills. 😃
Same colour exists in temples...
I love how she tries to force the idea of racism into the conversation towards the end. So ridiculous.
I know! These are obviously all caucasoid features, so it’s not like anyone is trying to hide anything.
Erect a colored statue in So USA; they will complete your education.
@@williamjewell5656 Your comment makes no sense.
This video lacks insight. The massive interest in classical art and architecture during the Renaissance was all about inspiration. Despite wanting to bring back classical aesthetics, the artists of the time did not have ability to do so. Furthermore, they had no obligation to perfectly replicate the past. The colorless statues which were recovered at the time formed a new aesthetic that inspired Renaissance art. When you walk through a museum filled with these colorless statues, one can argue that being colorless is their proper state because the people who discovered and collected them appreciated these statues in their colorless state. It is like seeing a broken ceramic bowl repaired with gold in a Japanese museum and wishing it would restored to its original state.
It's always best to look and learn about these particular structures, as well as be fascinated that some have lived for so long, that they're a part of today's current era.
Art historians do not owe the public an apology. A museum's job is not to recreate an artwork, in the time of Michaelangelo racism was hardly prevalent the way it is today, and finally the sculptures TBH looks really tacky with color
As much as I like the information regarding the diversity of Ancient Greek culture, I really don’t quite get why suddenly relating it to how white marble suddenly cause people to become the one of the reasons for racism.
White marble is beautiful in it on itself, and it’s not the only material used to make statues. Statues from many culture were made using clay, granite, jade, gold, and wood, and yet I don’t think anyone relate all those Colours with race specifically.
In my opinion, that take sounded a bit narcissistic
Metals,butter...i love buddhist metal and butter sculptures from the Theravada,Mahayana,Vajrayana traditions
Nothing new, but hopefully, more people will be educated.
Wow!!!! With the paint added they look even more WHITE!!!!
That explains every greek yard.
There was a story of a guy who bought a house in Beverly Hills who painted all his white statues flesh color in the 80's. I'm pretty sure he got a fine or something from local authorities. Well authorities, you owe that guy an apology and fine money.
I remember it well!
martinostimemachine.blogspot.com/2017/07/the-sheiks-house-in-beverly-hills.html
Good to see this going to a wider audience. Painting sculpture was a norm for all of the ancient word and even into the medieval period, with medieval cathedral's and baroque wooden sculptures being painted... but I guess the modern aesthetic found something with the unpainted sculpture and has just gone with that.
The white marble looks very beautiful also, as they pointed out, it looks clean and pure, but I can imagine a painted statue would look nice too. Its nice to learn the history though and marvel at the artistry of the ancients.
Martha's suggestion that the museums have somehow been duping the public or suppressing vital knowledge borders on the offensive. I feel for the museum official who was clearly taken aback. If Martha wanted to make the point that the sculptures as presented do not match the actual diversity found in Roman culture at the time and that a truer representation might have value to our society today she could have asked "Do you feel that changing the way these artifacts are presented has any value to museum goers? Has there been any discussion among museum staff or on the board? What kinds of changes do you expect to see in the future?"
Art History 101. But love any exposure you can give to the masses regarding Art and Culture. Thank you!
This is the most boomer news story I've ever seen. You can't get much more boomer than this.
I remember learning that classical sculptures were painted more than 50 years ago and it was not new then. The findings are neither shocking nor new.
this has been known since many years, as far as ı know there is a partly well protected painted sculpture at the museum of selçuk/ephesus
There is one in Pompeii. It’s the head of a woman.
Some of those marble sclupters are either renaissance sculptures or replicas of Classical sculptures, and yes the original classical sculptures had colors. And there's written sources of the colors that the classical sculptures were.
That reporter was phenomenally rude
Hiding it? What a load. I knew about this 50 year ago and it was my dad who told me. Their buildings were brightly painted too. It's money and status thing. Back in the day painting your home/castle/building was a sign of wealth and unpainted meant you were poorer. White and black paint was popular because it was cheaper to make and blues and purples the most expensive since blue in blue paint is rarer nature. The more colors, the brighter the more intene the color the more expensve it was. Back then pigment was the most expensive part of the paint and its still true today. Painting the statues in full color would be expensive, added cost hence more status. Ever seen the interior design color pallet of the Nouveau riche? Why do they make real gold plated bathroom fixtures? Status.
Well worth taking a trip to NYC to enjoy this and many of the Met’s exhibits. I was so fortunate & grateful to have had the opportunity to live in walking distance of this great Museum for many years. Visiting these wonderful exhibits truly saved my life many times.
Trying so hard to make it a race issue is hilarious.
It IS a race issue.
No it's not the features are obvious to everyone with eyes, hiding the paint would literally do nothing.@@guystudios
Look at the facial features, its easy to see what they are, and especially what they ARE NOT.
They are NOT Balck Africans... They represent the most beautifull race, an Europoid Mediteranean race!
yes they are Italian people
@@14styrofoampackingpeanuts88 They look like Greeks more
@@14styrofoampackingpeanuts88 funny enough most of them were Greeks.
please ... this has been a known fact for at least 5 decades, which means a HALF of a century!
Martha Teichner on tzatziki sauce (parody/joke): "Why did you strip the cucumber of its green outer layer? What made you choose white onions over red onions - are you implying white onions are superior? The yoghurt is already white, so what makes you feel compelled to white wash the vegetables as well? You are what you eat, so are you implying that eating your sauce will make people whiter? *Don't you think you should apologize!?*"
The modern versions of these are the Madam Tussauds wax figures.
We live in a colourful world, so did the ancient sculptures at one time. Now science is helping with the discovery and the recovery. History in its most splendid hue.
I really would LOVE to see this exhibit! This looks amazing!
The journalist who is re-discovering the butter slicer 🙄
Very interested in the exhibition though.
I don't care for the suggestion/inuendo there was intentional whitewashing involved. Totally absurd, and just dumb to impute it on this art, distractiong from actual racial issues.
Really? The slant of these stories is getting ridiculous.
The editing here is top tier.
It has been common knowledge that the Ancient Greek and Roman statues were painted since at least the 1980s, my years in college. While this is a cool project, it is most certainly not shocking. And the marble forms of the renaissance are to be taken as standing on their own. These intellectuals are speaking to themselves. Most of us common people have busy lives and respond viscerally to what we like and what we don’t like w/out the navel gazing.
I'm not being rude but this is widely known in Europe and has been for centuries, as we are taught about our art and history and are surrounded by it every day so it's absolutely no revelation whatsoever, and I'm staggered that this woman - who looks considerably older than me - is shocked at this very obvious conclusion and had never come across this fact in all of her years on Earth. Just what are Americans taught in school, because it certainly doesn't seem to be anything involving world history.
I didn't study Art history in school, or University, and know very little about Greek or Roman statues, so I found this segment interesting and informative.
I guess I thought everybody knew this already. I remember years and years ago watching a Discovery channel program about famous pieces and what they would have looked like when first finished. Things like the Sphinx and so on were thought to have had marble facades and been painted in bright colors.
Absolutely awesome. Thank you so much for airing this piece.
As others have said, the world has known for decades or more that ancient statues were painted, it's not been a secret. Color in art was just as important in the ancient world as it is today. Roman homes and even public baths had elaborate murals painted on the walls inside and temples had massive floor mosaics and painted walls, ceilings and oftentimes pillars and colors had meanings and were associated with certain gods and goddesses. Buildings and statues that have survived the Christian purges, countless wars and simply time itself may seem colorless but that's because paint fades and chips, not because of deliberate cultural whitewashing
I didn't have a clue, amazing! Thank You!
I'm looking forward to seeing this in person
I learned this in art history class like 10 years ago :) I was completely shocked!
Wow that was shocking when they presented the colorful statues. How interesting.
Every sculpture pulled from the ground scrubbed “clean” of paint? Doubt it. If there’s no example of Greek/Roman sculpture with paint on them to back up this claim I will remain skeptical.
Ignorance is bliss💝. No offense at all. Knowledge is power my 👨🏽
There is the head of a woman in Pompeii that is still painted.
@@michellejones2416 nobody asked you sweetie 🥰
@@suziecreamcheese211 where’s the link?
@@michellejones2416 Truth
Bangin’ out the videos this morning
The Getty museum in the hills had a beautiful Ancient Greek marble table with amazingly vibrant polychrome colors! Hey ever seen colored marble statues in India today….they’re perpetuating this tradition. Oh yeah and marble Burmese Buddha images!
Love Hindu and Buddhist sculptures from the Himalayas,South and Southeast of Asia
They should make a replica of it and color it
So glad there doing this. We need to see what our world really looked liked to understand it better.
This was interesting until the end. 🙄
It’s funny because this isn’t a new discovery. If any of you are to apologise it should be to Greece.
... and the interiors of Gothic cathedrals were painted in vibrant colors.
Very very old information but at least this might inform many more. Medieval churches were also colourful places. In the UK the 17th century puritan zeal of Cromwells army and others led to the whitewashing of walls and the smashing of stained glass windows and statues. (arguably precursors to such groups as the Taliban). Southern European countries still have churches and cathedrals in full, sometimes gory, technicolor.
You would know this if you studied art history in college. Oh, and also know that ANCIENT TEMPLES were also painted in bright colors. - Sue Chef, M.A. (History of Art)
Loving Martha's Swatch watch @2:22 A’Cotè is a fun design.
Very interesting! But your intentions behind the word "white washing" are obvious, loaded and offensive. I do believe that western society does deserve to apologize and make up for many of its historical short comings and mistakes. But when you ask the expert you are interviewing if we owe an apology to museum goers, and talked over him because you didn't hear what you wanted. That makes you a poor interviewer and a worse journalist. You owe everyone else an apology for loading your investigation with your intentions, rather than reporting the truth.
Cicero wrote that a unpainted statue was ugly in the eyes of the Gods.
It sounds like one factory carves the stone closer to the quarry, and another factory adds the color elsewhere.
0:14 the lady presenter looks ancient, too🤣🤣🤣
Such beauty of colors.
Read Nicholas Barry's review of Painting in Stone - Yale Press "Here at last is an authority who considers it a ‘gross simplification’ to argue that the marble sculpture of ancient Greece and Rome was completely covered in opaque paint."
In our RC parish church in NW England, way back in the 1950s we had a parish priest who was horrified when the parishioners wanted to paint the statue of the virgin Mary in the Mary chapel. He was even more horrified at the result. 'how many blue eyed blond haired Jewesses do you think lived in ancient Israel?' He asked my mother with a wry grin. Then they topped it with a circlet of stars lit by little electric bulbs. It was truly kitsch but to my child's eyes lovely.
Very interesting! I guess something in our brains must like the simplicity of white sculptures the same way we like B&W photographs, yes we now can capture images in full color matching what our eyes sees but we still gravitate towards the raw unfinished things. Great report guys!
Definitely would rather have an unpainted one in my garden...The painted ones look less esthetically pleasing to me...Tacky....Too busy
@@robbieevans6536
That’s probably because you’ve become accustomed to the white statue.
I was thinking the same thing. I think most of us were used to looking at them that way since childhood and to see them painted seems garish. I also thought, someone is paying for this research!
@@henrylivingstone2971 No,.I like bronze statues, granite statues , marble statues, just not painted statues ie.... Michael Jackson at Craven Cottage...What an eyesore ...lol
@@robbieevans6536
Exactly….because you aren’t accustomed to seeing a painted statue therefore you’re hesitant to readily accept it. And you have to remember these statues were painted in accordance to historically available color pigments so it’s inevitable they’re not gonna look realistic and almost even cartoonish.
An example of how modern research and science can inform our understanding of History. (Re-writing History? some would say.)
Funny the Romans, whose aesthetic is so valued, actually had wild, garish color schemes.
No closed captions? Come on CBS